This book was so hard to put down! I had intended to read a few other books before picking this one up, but I read the first story on my lunch break and couldn't even think about reading anything else after that. The stories were all fascinating and horrifying in their own ways, and I could not look away. Reading this book felt like discovering fairy tale magic that had been missing in my life for far too long. That being said, these were not fun cutesy fairy tales. They were dark and brutal with no happy endings and no one to turn to for comfort.

One of my favorite things about this book of short stories was that several characters made appearances in multiple stories, apparently having not had their fill of misery. I usually find that when I read a book of short stories I want to know more about a character and what happens to them after their story ends. This book fixed that problem.

These stories were also bursting with creativity. Most of the time I had absolutely no clue what was going to happen next, and then when it did happen, I was blown away. It was amazing. I will definitely be revisiting this one.

thank you netgalley and University of Nebraska Press for this earc
content warning: animal neglect/death, child neglect
This set of stories all build off one another. Animals that are men and men that are animals, folkloric magic soaked in grief tangled with obsession and ripping apart the world as we know it. a chain reaction over time as lonely people cross paths with each other.

i personally really enjoyed the metaphoric prose overlapping with more literal and whimsical aspects plus the few times where the story simply ends and it is what it is. fairy tales in particular do not have tied off endings as their affects ripple through the world and that style of storytelling really works well for this collection.

im definitely interested in seeing what this author will write in the future

Vulture Gold is a gold mine (ha) of speculative fiction. If anyone is looking for a whole lot of meaning packed into an eerie—sometimes Grimm—tale, Hicks is your author.

*Vulture Gold* is a wonderfully strange collection that blends the atmosphere of old folktales with a distinctly Southern gothic feel. Through stories filled with eerie human-animal transformations and unsettling folklore, Micah Dean Hicks explores themes of death, love, obsession, family, and religion in deeply creative ways. While some stories connected with me more than others, the imagination behind each one was consistently impressive.

I especially loved the folk horror elements and the way the collection slowly began intertwining its stories, making the world feel larger and more connected rather than simply a set of separate tales. Haunting, weird, and beautifully written, this collection left a strong impression on me.

Oops all bangers
Normally when I read any sort of anthology or short story collection it ends up being a mixed bag, but this is an exception. Every short story in this collection is excellent. I was blown away the whole time. The folky atmosphere, the gothic storytelling, and the hard themes all work wonderfully together to create one amazing story after another. Each story, even down to the shortest, is something you have to sit with. I'm going to be chewing on these for years I can already tell
(I received a free copy for review)

Folk horror and Southern Gothic meet in a series of Grimm-like fairy tales and legends.
A set of stories, each delving into morbid and macabre themes that portray some of the rawest parts of humanity: desire, poverty, religion, queerness, and family. Blurring the lines between human and animal, and between the living and the dead. Revealing how longing and obsession can become corruption and end in destruction.

The stories submerge us in worlds where a wedding party dresses as beasts, a nest of crows turns into five boys, burrows lead to strange places where rabbits wage a holy war, and the queen of the dead who holds it all. Micah Dean Hicks weaves dark tales carved in bone, birthed by breath, and baptized in blood.
My personal favorite was Saint Josiah the Loveless!